diff --git a/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_qemu.go b/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_qemu.go
index 37da21f42f..e25aab0667 100644
--- a/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_qemu.go
+++ b/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_qemu.go
@@ -4277,6 +4277,8 @@ func (d *qemu) addDriveConfig(qemuDev map[string]string, bootIndexes map[string]
 				permissions = unix.O_RDONLY
 			}
 
+			permissions |= unix.O_DIRECT
+
 			f, err := os.OpenFile(driveConf.DevPath, permissions, 0)
 			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("Failed opening file descriptor for disk device %q: %w", driveConf.DevName, err)